The Chef's Other Job
by Chicken Yuki
Summary: Summary: While Chase was studying on the mainland to become a top notch chef, he was forced into an alternate form of employment to make ends meet… in the wonderful world of English Dub Voice Acting.  Oneshot.


Summary: While Chase was studying on the mainland to become a top notch chef, he was forced into an alternate form of employment to make ends meet… in the wonderful world of English Dub Voice Acting. Oneshot.

**Disclaimer: **_**All your Harvest Moon are belong to Marvelous Interactive and Natsume.**_

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**The Chef's Other Job**

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Some time ago, in a dark recording studio, a television screen was showing silenced footage of an intense shounen anime action sequence.

"Reign over the frosted heavens, Hyorinmaru!"

Inside the recording booth, a young man with tussled, strawberry blond hair read wearing a blue hoodie and jeans aloud his scripted lines with a commanding tone and bravado.

"Okay, that'll do! Good job, Chase! We'll see you again, tomorrow!" a voice from some speakers announced.

"No problem. Thanks, Mr. Blum." Chase replied.

After the brief exchange and the shutdown of the booth, the strawberry blond voice actor left the workspace to prepare for the travel home. Unfortunately for him, a company newbie cut him off just before he could get his things.

"M-Mr. Chase sir?" the forgettable presence uttered.

"Oh, um… hey, uh… Martin?" Chase said, trying to read the name tag on the employee's plaid shirt.

"Man, oh man! It must be really cool to be in your position! You've voiced, like, a ton of the popular characters in your series, huh? Okay, maybe not a "ton", but I know you voiced that Neji guy who doesn't say "believe it", and you just got out of your recording from voicing Captain Hitsuguya? I don't know if you're really all that serious and snarky in person, but some of the characters you've portrayed have really made that kind of persona come to life! It's like you're acting as yourself, but in a really good, convincing way!" the employee rambled.

"Yeah, yeah. Sure. Thanks kid." Chase muttered half-heartedly.

"Well, I mean, I also know you've voiced that Kadaj guy? Oh! And Harry Macdougall, one of your earlier works! I guess it wouldn't be fair to think that all they've been doing is type-casting you all this time!" Martin gushed.

Chase sighed internally. He couldn't decide whether to be impressed by the rookie's knowledge of his resume, or to be a little freaked out by how hardcore he is with this personal fandom… especially when it's not the usual rambling fangirl doing it.

"Um. Thanks, Martin. Look, I gotta go pack my things and go home, but if you want to learn more about the localization biz, I could-"

"You must have a lot of fans by now! A whole horde of them! Especially the fangirls! I mean, like I said earlier, you've been voicing a lot of the popular guys! And your voice is so distinct! The fan letters must be pouring in! Maybe even ran into a few personally?" Martin continued.

"Look, kid. It's just my voice," Chase began, "It's not like they paste a photo of our faces in the credits so everyone and anyone can go headhunt us. I mean, it's not all sugar coated raindrops and all that stuff. We'd have to deal with our haters, too. You know how many crazy Wapanese people despise English Dubs just because it's not in the "Original Japanese"?"

"Hey, no sweat! The whole industry's got its support from a feverous fan base with its head screwed on right! There's no why they'd let talent like yours get run by the mob!" Martin assured him.

Despite this show of support, Chase simply shrugged and rolled his eyes.

"Right…"

"Anyway, nice meeting you, man! Can't wait to find out about your next new role!" Martin cried.

And finally, after sharing his unwarranted conversation with Chase, the rookie employee finally took off.

Despite this freedom, Chase stood there, frozen, pondering over how things ended up the way they were.

"_Man, I didn't really see all this coming. This voice acting gig was just some side job someone recommended me after agreeing to do that announcing job for the extra cash. I didn't know it would grow to become this big of a career for me, and I'm still trying to find a decent day job in a diner. I'm almost afraid I lost track of my professional life somewhere down the line. Sure, I've been paid well for not-so-steady employment, but I know this isn't my passion! I wanted to be a chef! A chef that could be proud to serve the masses with quality cooking! And an even greater pay wouldn't hurt…"_

Chase turned around and took another look at the empty recording booth he had just left.

"_Well, I did have a lot of fun memories here. I can't deny that…"_ he admitted to himself.

The aspiring chef sighed, torn by the new direction opened up to him in his life, and the one he still desperately wished to pursue. He then took out a brochure showcasing a land of tropical paradise and peaceful pastures.

"_Maybe it wouldn't hurt to go back there again. I could enjoy some solitude and peace of mind, and Ms. Yolanda might still have plenty of recipes and tricks of the trade to teach me. I just hope her bratty granddaughter won't be there to muck it all up. I need just a few more jobs and I'll be set for the fare…"_ he calculated.

With this new plan set in mind, the young chef/voice actor finally vacated the studio so he could roam the parking lot. However, a nagging feeling forced him to look back at his workplace one last time.

"I owe this studio a whole lot more than I want to…" he privately lamented.

The next day, in his apartment, Chase received a phone call from his agency.

"What's this? You want me to audition for a video game this time? …The "Rune Factory" Series...? Okay, I'll be there in a minute."

In his current predicament of lacking a steady day job, Chase took off to accept the audition.

"_Maybe doing a whole bunch of separate grunts and cries might be good enough change of pace for now," _he thought to himself.

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**Author's Notes: For anyone familiar with Anime voiced by Bang! Zoom! Entertainment and various other productions that care to know about the names of the cast, you may be familiar with the name "Steve Staley".**

**For whatever reason, I always imagined Chase's lines being spoken by said voice actor. Likely in a more laid-back tone. Then I made a comic to deviantART jokingly suggested that maybe Chase was a voice actor that did a bunch of Staley's roles while he was still on the mainland. But it took a few months after making that comic before coming up with this oneshot.**

**Really Weird.**

**But if anyone was wondering, no, the guy did NOT voice acting whatsoever for any Rune Factory Game, I just felt like title dropping a game series connected to Harvest Moon in some form that isn't HM itself. One chance he'd have would be in Rune Factory Frontier, but that was mostly Johny Yong Bosch and a guy that may or may not be Spike Spencer. Who knows? Even if he did in the future, I'm not entirely sure what role would suit him.**

**Hope you guys had fun reading this, as usual.**

**P.S.**

**The Harvest Lord is begging to be voiced by DAN GREEN.**


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